Search results for: "The Ten Perfections"
- Concentration & Renunciation… It’s interesting that in the ten perfections, concentration is not listed. But it’s there under renunciation, because without the concentration you can’t renounce pleasures. As the Buddha once said, no matter how much you may know the drawbacks of sensual pleasures, if you don’t have the pleasure of concentration, the sense of ease that comes getting the mind to settle …
- Surveying the World… This is the basic message of the Buddha’s teachings on noble treasures, and what the tradition later worked up into the list of the ten perfections. Despite the ups and downs of the world, there’s something of solid value that you can build into the mind that’s not wiped away by the things that wipe away the treasures, the accomplishments, or …
- A Mind Larger than the World… I had her read through the book, and she was surprised at a point I was making about Theravada, which is that most people in Theravada countries don’t think of themselves as following the noble eightfold path; instead, they’re developing the ten perfections. She thought that the perfections were a Mahayana invention. Actually, they came before Mahayana split off, and they really …
- Equanimity as a Skill… This is one of the misunderstandings that comes from looking at the list of the four sublime attitudes, the seven factors for awakening, even the ten perfections. They all end with equanimity, which makes it sound like this is where we’re going. But that’s not the case. It’s meant to take you beyond itself, and to do so, you have to …
- For Goodness’ Sake… That’s what differentiates us from common animals.” So what are those good qualities? There’s a list called the ten perfections. They include discernment, which is primarily a quality of the mind, but the other nine are all qualities of the heart: generosity, virtue, renunciation, persistence, endurance, truth, determination, goodwill, and equanimity. Goodwill stands out as good-heartedness. A lot of the others …
- Determination… These four qualities of mind also contain the ten perfections. The qualities are discernment, truth, relinquishment, and calm. You start out with discernment, trying to figure out what would be a worthwhile goal, one that, when you had attained it, would be something you could really hold on to, something of genuine essence. Then use your discernment to figure out how to get there …
- The Brightness of Life… There are the ten perfections. When you see that your mind has trouble settling down, you can ask yourself, “Okay, what’s lacking?” The lists are there to give you some ideas. For example, with the factors for awakening, you start with mindfulness, keeping the breath in mind. Then there’s analysis of qualities: That’s basically analyzing what the problem is. You try …
- The Will to Awaken… When you look at the qualities that lead to awakening—things like the ten perfections—they come under the headings of what the Buddha talks of as the adhitthana dhamma , things that are willed. There are actually four: discernment, truth, relinquishment, and peace or calming. All of these are things that we have to will in order to find them. Now the problem with …
- End of results
